The worst run ever

wtf happened?

Yesterday I experienced the worst run ever.

I had grand plans of running 10 miles. I had the time, the weather was perfect, I had my new toy… so things should've went as planned.

Ha.

I got to running, decided to run slower since mentally I wasn't into it and it was a longer run for me. Fine.

My legs were feeling tight (perhaps from pushing the speed one two many times this week) but aside from that I was just mentally - UCK. I had zero desire to run. ZERO. I hated every song my iPod spit out at me. Around 2.5 miles I did what I haven't done since I first started running, I walked.

Then I hit 3 miles and walked again and decided to head back.

The last 3 miles was a shit show of running as slow as I could and walking.

It was pitiful.

With all the walking, I had some time to think.

I think I might be suffering a little 'running burn-out'.  I'm not sure why, I'm not logging giant mileage weeks or anything but yesterday I just was soooooo not in the mood and I couldn't overcome it. I've never thrown in the flag like that. I mean, I've cut runs short but I've never cut them short and decide to walk half of it. Ever. Well. First time for everything, I guess.

I will take today off.  The rest of the week is hectic and next Saturday I'm running the Hollywood half.

My plan is to keep my runs easy and light this week leading up to the race and maybe focus on a little cross training until my running love comes back.

What's the worst run you've ever had?

How do you shake it off?

What do you do to get your running mojo back?

XO
Jen

isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Chia seeds: Good for more than growing plants on creepy pottery

Well who woulda thunk when those wacky chia pet commercials came out long, long ago that someday we'd be eating those seeds?

Certainly not I.

I mean, do you remember Chia Pets? 

They were downright creepy, there is nothing remotely cute about this:

Someone took the time to cultivate this hideous thing
source

During the documentary, Hungry For Change, which I talked about in this blog post, they touted the benefits of chia seeds… so off I went to get me some.

They are tasteless and you only need a tablespoon or so to get the benefits. In my research, I've learned that chia seeds are pretty freakin' good for you. How good for you?  How about these stats according to  Chia Seed Super Food.com:

• They have 100% more omega fatty acid than salmon
• Double the antioxidants of blueberries
• 41% of your daily fiber needs
• 6 times more calcium than milk
• 32% of your daily magnesium (more than broccoli)
• 6 times more iron than spinach
• 64% more potassium than a banana

Chia seeds also increases energy, improves digestion, improves your skin and helps you to sleep better -  these little seeds will even clean your house, walk the dog and take out the garbage! (Well I made that last part up but these things really are the best thing since sliced organic/gluten-free/sprouted bread!) ha.

You can stir them into smoothies or juices, sprinkle them on top of salads, oatmeal, cereal or whatever you want. They don't have to be ground like flaxseeds either.

If you put them in water for 10-15 minutes they become almost like tapioca so it's a good thickening agent and people like to make puddings and stuff with them. I'm just starting to experiment with them but who the hell knew they were so great? 

They store easily too. Up to 2 years in a 'cool, dark, place.' I got a bag that will last forever at GNC for $11 or so.

Help stop chia seed abuse: Eat them, don't let Bart
Simpson ever become a victim again

You can read more about them at the link above.

Have you been using chia seeds?

Did you know they were so great?

Did you ever have a chia pet?

XO

Jen

Not so clean eating and new toys

I am on the clean, healthy eating trail. Lot's of good stuff this week, juicing every day, consuming a mainly plant based diet with a few eggs and hormone free, free range poultry here and there -- I'm even consuming freakin' chia seeds. I'm really working at this and actually feel great. Have also eliminated most wheat (due to a suspicion of having a gluten thing…)

But, how easy we fall off the wagon.

I had to bring my darling son to the doctor today. His favorite thing in the world is strawberry ice-cream in a cone.

Now don't judge me. I'm doing the best I can with this parenting thing and I know this is a parenting fail but this kid was flipping out, like major melt-down flipping out about going to the doctor, he was laying on the pavement of my driveway having a stroke. I was at my wits end and impulsively promised him I'd buy him ice cream if he was a good boy at the doctor. I know, I know. Bribery. Rewarding with junky food. I promised myself I would never do that. I fell victim. I'll have to figure out how to do better next time… but for now, it's what happened.

So off we went. He did fine at the doctor, so Ben was ready to collect on the promise. I had to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things anyway and got him his favorites.  He took four bites from his little cone and was done. I guess it was more about him going to the store and picking out his loot.

I should've tossed it out and been happy that Ben didn't want to over-do it. Instead I mindlessly took a taste and then proceeded to scarf the whole thing. Where the F did that come from? 

Fail. Chemical filled/non-organic, craptastic bribe. shame.

Parenting fail /  clean eating fail. Time to go back to the drawing board.

Oh well. Guess it's going to take some practice. I'm slowly trying to convert the whole family to cleaner eating. Hubby and son doing pretty well otherwise.

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In other news - I got to use my brandy-new Garmin yesterday - yippee!

I am still learning all the bells and whistles and didn't set  it properly to give me my splits, so my four miles was one big lap. It was cool to see the HR and all the other things it does. I can see how this thing can mess with your mind tho. I'd look down and see my pace and would instantly feel 'challenged' to run faster. If it wasn't what I wanted it to be I'd pick it up. This could be a good and bad thing. But I'm really looking forward to getting used to the thing.

And BTW, in defense of NIKE + app - I had that running too since it's connected to my iPhone and my   iPhone has my music - Nike+ was on point with pace and distance.

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And in yet other news…

My son has delays and special needs and one of his delays is speech. He is talking more and more everyday.  It makes me proud that one of the few things he'll say is "Mamma goes exercise…" and "Mamma runs." This morning he picked up a Runner's World magazine and as he flipped through it, he saw a picture of a super fit, young woman, pointed to her and exclaimed, "Mama!!" "Mama running!" :-)  It's the little things.

How are things going with you?

Have you had a food or parenting fail lately?

What's your favorite feature on your Garmin or other pacing device?

XOXO

Jen

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Woo Hoo!

I didn't tell anyone but after this happened, being fed up with stuff like this happening and after getting a bunch of comments about how awesome this thing was, I took a little time on EBAY, placed a bid and pulled the trigger…

My mailman made me very happy this morning:

hello, sexy. 

No more words… time to try this baby out.

XO

Jen

What's for lunch? My review of a frozen organic, vegan meal

I love lunch. Well. I also love breakfast, brunch, snacks, dinner and dessert.

Uh.

Anyway, I do love lunch. I work from an office occasionally and I look forward to going out and 'picking up' lunch. It's my little treat and I like the mental break from getting up from my desk.

I'll admit, my usual go-to was from a local, chain sandwich shop. I chose what I thought was a pretty healthy meal: Whole grain roll, turkey, veggies, mustard and a bag of baked chips.

It's not the pits. Certainly fits into what most of us would consider a low-fat, low-calorie lunch.

However, aside from the veggies and maybe a bit of whole grain this is a pretty low nutrient meal.  In terms of "eating clean" as I'm working at doing, this sandwich doesn't cut it. Processed cold-cut meat, a bag of baked chips, etc - not so clean. Not to mention that I'm avoiding gluten to see if my tummy gets better (I have felt better).

So what the frig to eat?

I remembered that there was a Target near by so I decided to see if I could find something there.

I found this:

I admit, I was afraid

Basically, I chose this Amy's entree because Target only had this and one other option of the sort and this seemed the less of two evils. "Dairy-free," "Gluten-free," no meat? Ugh. This thing is freakin' vegan. I'm no vegan.  I wasn't feeling optimistic but tried to keep an open mind. Gotta try it before you knock it.

I also chose the Wallaby yogurt because it was organic and had all pronounceable things in the ingredients… I figured I'd at least like that.

So this was my set-up:

brought the orange from home

OMG, Amy, I'm sorry I doubted you. You were delish. I couldn't believe how good this little frozen meal was! LOVED it. Like I would eat this even if I wasn't trying to be all gluten-free and clean-eatin'. There were plenty of beans and corn in the tamale, the tamale itself was a very nice texture. The rice was tasty and the flavors were great.  (Now, perhaps I'm over zealous in this review because I was fearing the worst but I was sincerely impressed.)

If you look at the ingredients of the Amy's meal - you can pronounce all of it - no chemicals or weird stuff to be found: 

The best part? It wasn't $$. I think the Amy's thing was on-sale for $2.99 and the yogurt was $1. So hello - lunch for under $5 (including the orange). CHEAPER than a fast food 'value' meal.

This Tamale Verde meal had 12 grams of fiber and actually made me full! I am saving my orange and yogurt for later. I never feel filled and satisfied after a frozen meal (and I relied on a lot of "low fat" frozen meals for lunch). Find the rest of the nutritional information here.

If I was having it for dinner I might add some sliced avocado and a salad of greens to it for a little extra flair.

Have you tried something new lately?

Are you a fan of Amy's Organic stuff?

What else can I have for lunch that I might like?

XO

Jen

A new way of eating

Well after watching the documentary "Hungry For Change" I really did decide to work on changing my ways.

You can read the blog entry about Hungry For Change, here, in case you missed it.

Today was day one (well day 1 1/2 - I kind of started mid-day yesterday) of my newer/cleaner way of eating.

I had been eating relatively clean up until seeing the movie, so it hasn't been that big of a leap. Went to the store and replaced a lot of our stuff with organic versions. Stocked up on produce and organic eggs, hormone free chicken, etc. It was hard for me. I am a coupon queen and a budget shopper. So I had to 'suck up' the fact that the normal eggs were $2 less and the hormone/natural, grass-fed beef was $3 more for the package. (We are worth it, we are worth it, we are worth it.)  I threw out my yellow-packet sweetener, got rid of the 'spray' fake butter, and decided that I'll be aiming to put only good things with identifiable words into my body most of the time.

I also decided to do a little experiment and cut out most gluten the last few days (I'm not being over-the-top with that but got rid of the biggest gluten offenders.)

Last week I went to the doctors for tests because I have a stomach ache every day of my life. Hmmm, no gluten the last 3 days, no stomach ache. Wouldn't be surprised to learn that I do have a little intolerance.

So here's my day. I have to say that I got in triple the vegetable I usually do and I feel pretty awesome.

Breakfast:

1 egg over easy, 1 small sweet potato, left-over fresh green beans, 1tsp. of EVOO, cup of coffee with splash of almond/coconut milk (I know that this is a weird breakfast but I needed a carb-y thing and have cut out my whole grain toast because of the gluten thing.) The green beans? eh, why not?

food photography not my forte

Snack:
1/2 cup of 0% fat greek yogurt / frozen blueberries

6 raw, unsalted almonds (more than six pictured because six looked so lonely on the plate.)

Lunch:
Spring salad mix/sliced strawberries/a few grapes/fresh cilantro/fresh parsley/half cucumber and a few raw/unsalted sunflower seeds. balsamic vinegar + 1 tsp. of EVOO and a small piece of skinless chicken.

juice ingredients

Snack:
Green juice: 2 carrots/2 celery stalks/a few grapes/handful of spinach/cilantro/parsley/cucumber/little piece of ginger

Dinner:
Laura's lean beef hamburger patty, (another) sweet potato, broccoli 1tsp. of EVOO, tomatoes

Snack:
Grapefruit

Lots of food, a few tsps. of healthy olive oil, a few almonds for some more healthy fats and tons of produce. My beverage of choice is always water.

It's not that hard, you just have to have all the stuff around. I am hoping to keep it up!

Have you made any dietary changes lately?

XO
Jen

Hungry For Change… Ready for change?

Post-movie farmer's market run

A very good friend of mine and fellow blogger, Jason, at Cook Train, Eat, Race is a guy I look to for guidance and advice across the board when it comes to 'cooking, training, eating and racing.' He's passionate about spreading the word on good health and inspiring/motivating others. He's also an Ironman racer and serious athlete. I've learned a lot from him and from being an avid reader of his blog.

So, when Jason posts a review about something, I listen. 

Recently, Jason reviewed and then posted a link to a new documentary called Hungry For Change. The documentary basically reinforces what many of us know. Most of our food (particularly the processed stuff) in this country is shit. It delves even deeper into the shit and demonstrates how most of us are addicted to our crap food including diet soda, aspartame, sugar, etc… It also spoke to the importance of incorporating more fruits and vegetables into our diets, juicing, the importance of organics, getting the toxins out of our bodies, etc…

Even though I knew a lot of it, it was still an eye-opener and the film was well-produced.

And it got to me.

When I was losing weight, I, like most American's didn't worry about whether my low-fat frozen meal was processed or what it contained. I didn't look at the ingredients on my "low-fat" "healthy cereal" and I didn't worry about what it took to make that slice of "light" bread or fat free ice cream. No. I was worried about "how many Weight Watcher points" the item was and called it a day. I used fake spray 0 calorie butter, swigged diet coke, sprinkled on artificial 0 calorie sweetener, and used other "low fat" items with abandon.  I not only freely used them but I was under the impression that I was eating healthy. Doing right by me.

Even up to now, I try to bury my head in the sand when it comes to a lot of processed foods. I wanted to believe that 'organic' was just a marketing tool to get more money from me. Lately I've been starting to think about the chemicals more… just recently I vowed to give up the yellow stuff. (I've been doing so/so with that one)  But I can't hide from it any more.

Hungry for Change actually helped me to be ready for change.

Budget concerns held me back in the past but I made a decision to let go of being so damn cheap when it comes to my food. I used to say, "if I ever win the lottery, I'm buying all organic and shopping for all the produce, 'good foods,' etc… that I could ever want"  

I might not ever win the lottery and you know what?  I am WORTH providing good food to and so is my family. I'm not so sure why I feel like I don't deserve the pricier organic carrots but I'm getting over it. I am worth it. 

I am ready for change. My husband of course, kind of rolled his eyes at me, at first. He's not so ready but since I do the grocery shopping that's too bad. He thinks that I'm extreme. He said, "you watch a documentary and now you're ready to change everything." I said "that we watch things like that to learn and if you learn that you can be doing things better and don't - well, that's silly."

When I got home with all my produce loot, hubby began to come around - he's going to embrace change too. :)

I don't say it's going to be a perfect or easy road. No, for now I will not be jumping into a vegan lifestyle or never having a hot dog at a baseball game again but I will start to crowd more and more good stuff into my diet, hopefully so much of the right stuff will be added that there'll be no more room for anything else eventually. I am going to try to buy more organic things and juice more. I'm taking this seriously and will be making a concerted effort to get away from processed/chemicals/etc.

After raiding the local farmer's market, post film,  I even juiced up a green drink (I loved it by the way.)

My green drink is in my Jets cup - thought it
matched nicely ;)

So I guess I am not just Hungry for Change but READY for change. (Thanks, Jason!)

If you want to check out the film, you can stream it for free by providing your e-mail here, now - March 31.

Have you seen the film yet?

Have you given up processed foods?

Do you buy organic?

XO

Jen